


Try Again

by glaggieaf



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Child Loss, F/M, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Trigger warnings:, im sorry in advance, very very sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6432196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaggieaf/pseuds/glaggieaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glenn and Maggie are faced with a horrible and terrible tragedy, and it's up to them to be strong for each other and help each other find hope again. Set during the 6x15-6x16 time frame. TW: includes miscarriage and the loss of a child. Slightly based on "Small Bump" by Ed Sheeran. Ships: Glenn x Maggie and Rick x Michonne (implied). Oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try Again

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I just want to start this out by saying I absolutely DO NOT want this to ever happen! After last week's episode, I just had this idea in my brain and I had to write about it. Also, if I write down things that make me sad, it helps me deal with it later on, and God forbid this will happen but if it does, at least I'm a little more prepared for it. Also, honestly, good luck to all of us on April 3rd...we're gonna need it... Anyway, thank you for reading! Comments and criticism are always accepted :)
> 
> Characters: Glenn, Maggie, Enid, Rick, Carl, Michonne, Daryl, Negan, Rosita, Abraham, Sasha, Eugene, Aaron, Dwight, Hershel (mentioned), Beth (mentioned), Maggie and Glenn's baby (mentioned)
> 
> Ships: Glenn x Maggie, Rick x Michonne (implied)
> 
> Summary: Glenn and Maggie are faced with a horrible and terrible tragedy, and it's up to them to be strong for each other and help each other find hope again. Set during the 6x15-6x16 time frame.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or any of the characters, I'm just majorly in love with them :)
> 
> Here we go! (ps: I'm sorry in advance)

It had been a rough couple of days, not just for Maggie and Glenn, but for all of them. The Saviors were coming and they were a force to be reckoned with. The group was foolish, they misjudged the strength and size of Negan's camp, failing to kill all of them. Everything happened so fast, in a matter of a day. 

Daryl had been stupid, trying to go after a man who could be anywhere. Glenn, Rosita, and Michonne had also been stupid, going after Daryl who wasn't going to change his mind about finding this man. Rosita actually teamed up with Daryl, much to Glenn's surprise. Glenn and Michonne had realized their mistakes. They both had families back home, and they decided to leave them again, without proper goodbyes. Glenn and Michonne went to go home when the man Daryl had been hell bent on looking for found them, and then he found Daryl and Rosita and injured Daryl. The four were taken to a man named Negan, someone they thought they killed long ago. 

Negan took them to a clearing, unaware of what they were doing there, when all of a sudden Rick, Carl, Abraham, Eugene, Aaron, and Sasha came into the clearing, obviously confused at what was happening. Glenn was thankful that Maggie wasn't there, hopefully she was safe. He did, however, worry about Michonne, since most of her family was now in this horrible situation. When Negan was talking to the other part of his family, Glenn realized what was happening. This is was Jesus warned them about, Negan would make them work for him, and he would do that by killing one of Glenn's family. Negan decided to pick one of them at random, Glenn silently prayed it wouldn't be him, Michonne, Rick, or Carl. It sounded selfish in his head, basically saying it could be anyone but them, but he didn't want to see more families torn apart, and he needed to get back to Maggie and his unborn child. 

Negan ended up picking Daryl, he was killed right in front of Glenn. One of his best friends, beat to death with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Glenn instantly wished he didn't make that silent prayer, none of them deserved this fate, especially Daryl. Daryl had been there since the start, always helping, hunting, and providing for them. This was a huge loss, not just for the group's survival, but everyone loved Daryl. He was a great friend to everyone and he shouldn't be taken from life like this, no one should. Negan told Rick that they worked for him now, and he let the group go to grieve. The drive home was silent except for Carl's quiet sobs into Michonne's chest. Everyone had a lot on their minds, how were they going to overcome this? How would they tell everyone about Daryl's demise? What did this mean for them now? As they drove up to the gates of their home, Rick spoke up.

"I'm going to tell everyone what happened, and how we go on from here, this violence from Negan won't be tolerated" Rick's voice was hoarse, he had been crying too.

Once the car stopped, Glenn hopped out and ran to the fence, not even bothering to hear what Rick was about to say to the community. He knew, they were going to war. His priority was Maggie. When the gates opened, he expected to see his wife standing there, however, he was welcomed to Enid, who wore a very concerned expression on her face.

"Enid," Glenn let out in a sigh and ran to hug her, "Where's Maggie?"

"She's in the house," Enid wearily says. She was holding something back, but Glenn didn't have time to listen to it, he had to be with Maggie to tell her he was okay.

Glenn turns to leave when Enid grabs his arm, "Glenn! Wait," she pulls him closer, making him face her again, "I need to tell you something."

"What, Enid? I need to see Maggie."

"That's the thing," Enid started out, she looked down, unable to look Glenn in the face, "After you left, Maggie started having stomach pains-"

"What?" Glenn said a little too forcefully.

Enid winced at his voice, "Yeah, and she was screaming, and then there was-there was blood, and..." Enid faded out slowly, unable to continue.

Glenn kneeled down to get eye to eye with Enid, "Enid what happened?" Enid didn't answer, she continued to look at the floor. Glenn grabbed her arms and begged, "Enid, look at me! What happened? Is she okay?"

Enid finally looked up, "She's okay..."

"Enid? The baby?"

Enid looked down again. Glenn could see tears streaking her face and falling down on the ground. 

"No..." Enid whispered, shaking her head.

Glenn stood up, "No, no. There's-no..." Glenn was physically shaking.

"Glenn, I'm sorry! I tried-" Glenn was already running to his house before Enid could finish. Enid didn't follow him, the couple needed to be alone. She took one last look at Glenn before wiping her tears and running over to Carl to see what had happened to the group outside the walls.

As Glenn was running, all the hope he had from the previous days was slowly draining. They had been so happy, they were about to start a family. They had names picked out, they were taking bets on the gender, they planned out a nursery, they even knew of stores that would still be stocked with baby supplies. All of this was thrown away, it was useless now. Glenn understood now, he understood how Carol felt when Sophia walked out of that barn, he understood Michonne’s emotions when she found her son eaten by walkers, he understood Deanna’s grief when he came back from that run and told her Aiden died. He knew, he had lost a child too. And the worst part? He wasn’t there when Maggie needed him the most, and he will never forgive himself for that. 

Once Glenn opened the door to his house, he prepared himself. He had to be strong for Maggie, he had too. All he wanted to do was cry, but he couldn’t. Maggie needed a shoulder to cry on and he couldn’t be crying too. As he opened the door to their room, he saw Maggie laying on their bed, facing away from the door. Glenn thought quickly, he wasn’t sure what he should say, or if he should say anything at all. Then he noticed something, Maggie’s hair was incredibly short, she must have cut it while he was away. In other circumstances, they would have joked about it. He would have pretended to be hurt when he found out she cut her hair without telling him first, but nothing seemed funny anymore, not now. Glenn did, however, take this as an opportunity to start talking to Maggie, maybe to get her mind off of other horrible things.

“Hey Maggs, I’m back,” Glenn started awkwardly as he walked over to sit beside Maggie, “I like your hair, it suits you. When did-”

“Cut the crap, Glenn” Maggie coldly cut him off.

Glenn pretended like he didn’t know, “What are you talking about, Maggie?”

“You talked to Enid, you know.”

Whenever he tried to hide something, she knew. She always knew. It was silent for a while, Glenn was quietly tracing his fingers along Maggie’s back. He didn’t know what to say, that was a first. Glenn was there when Hershel died, he was there when Beth died too. When Hershel died, he could console Maggie because his parents are probably dead as well. When Beth died, he had no problem telling Maggie it would be okay, because his sisters were long gone. Now, he had nothing to say. They were going through this experience for the first time together, and Glenn couldn’t help Maggie through this when he was going through it himself. Glenn tried though, he really did. 

'I have to be strong for her,' Glenn thought, 'She must be in more pain than me, right?'

“Maggie, I know this is hard, on both of us, but I just want you-”

“Glenn, stop” Maggie coldly interrupted him again.

“Maggie, I just want to make sure-”

“No, Glenn, stop” Maggie sat up to look Glenn in the face. Her face was expressionless, but her bloodshot eyes told Glenn that she had been crying for a long time, “You always do this, you always try to make it better. You think you have to be the one to save me, to protect me and keep me fighting. Well, guess what, Glenn? You can’t! Not right now! Nothing you say can make this fucked up situation any better!” Maggie started to slowly break down from her outburst, “I know you are hurting too, you don’t have to be strong for me, Glenn. Don’t pretend you aren’t hurting because I know you are-and-” Maggie started to get choked up and Glenn grabbed her and held onto her as tightly as he could, and Maggie did the same. She started crying, and for the first time, Glenn cried with her, instead of being the shoulder for her to cry on.

After a few moments, Maggie spoke up again, “Glenn, we just lost our child,” Maggie practically whispered into his chest, “How do we move on from this?”

Glenn didn’t know the answer, how could he? Instead of lying, he just told the truth for her, “I don’t know, Maggie” he quietly said back.

They sat holding each other and crying for what seemed like hours. Even though Glenn was hurting, he still gently rubbed her back and kissed her on her temple, trying to insure her that it would be okay. But in reality, Glenn didn’t know if it would be okay, but he still tried to console Maggie, that’s all he really could do at this point.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie says, more to herself than Glenn.

“What?” Glenn asks, he couldn’t hear her previous whisper.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie said louder as she pulled away from Glenn’s chest to look him in the eye, “This is all my fault.”

“Maggie, how could you say that? None of this is your fault! These things just happen, sometimes.”

“No, Glenn, it is my fault. Everything is my fault!” Maggie got up from the bed and started to pace, Glenn didn’t stop her, he figured she’s been holding all of this in for way too long, “If I never told the Governor about the prison, maybe my dad would be alive right now. And if I stayed with Beth after the prison attack, maybe she would be here too. And, I made that deal with Gregory! I signed us up for this horrible suicide mission. And, of course, I thought that I should have been there with you while you went into this terrorist's home and killed everyone in it. You were forced to kill someone for the first time and I got kidnapped. And maybe if I didn’t get kidnapped, I wouldn’t have been kneed in the stomach and beaten. And maybe, just maybe, I would still be pregnant! All of it, everything! It’s my fault, Glenn. Everything’s my fault-” Maggie practically fell back on the bed in tears. Glenn picked her up and held her again. He had no idea that she blamed herself for her father and sister’s deaths. There’s no way any of that was Maggie’s fault, including their child’s death, but she believed it was. Glenn instantly felt horrible, he should have known this was going on in Maggie’s head but he didn’t.

“Maggie, you can’t blame yourself for this or your father or Beth. The Governor was about to kill one of us before you revealed the prison, we didn’t have a choice. With Beth, that was a crazy time, we were all panicking to get out of the prison. Beth could have followed you but she didn’t and that’s not your fault either. And it wasn’t your choice to make that deal with Gregory, you had to do it, Rick wanted you to. We had no food and we were going to starve to death if we didn’t get supplies from the Hilltop, you saved all of us, Maggs. You got us food, we needed that and Rick was prepared to do anything to get it. None of this is your fault Maggie, none of it,” Glenn was practically begging Maggie to understand what he was saying, their child’s death would only hurt her more if she believed she caused it, “Did you ask those Saviors to beat you?”

“It doesn’t matter-”

Glenn interrupted, “Did you ask those Saviors to beat you?” He asked a little more forcefully.

“...No” Maggie whispered.

“Then Maggie, this isn’t your fault. This whole world is fucked up and things don’t always go the way we planned, you didn’t cause this. Please, don’t think these things. It’s only making matters worse” Glenn gently ran his fingers through her hair as he finished.  
“It’s just so hard to see it any differently, Glenn. Don’t you have regrets?”

Oh, he had a lot, too many to count. He understood what Maggie is going through, “Yes, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. I regret not looking harder for my parents and sisters, I regret not taking Dale’s side back at the farm, I regret letting Noah’s hand slip through mine on that run, and-” Glenn stopped. He really didn’t want to tell Maggie about Negan confronting them and killing Daryl, she didn’t need more sadness right now. But, he was tired of hiding things and lying, she was going to find out eventually and he wanted to be the one to tell her. It’d be less hard for her hearing it from him than someone else, “I really didn’t want to tell you about this tonight, but we met Negan, and he-he killed Daryl tonight.”

Maggie pulled away from Glenn, “What?”

“Yeah, he killed him, right in front of all of us. And I was stupid, Negan randomly picked one of us for him to kill, and I secretly hoped it wouldn’t be me or Rick or Michonne or Carl because we all have families and I didn’t want anyone to be separated again. Once he picked Daryl, though, I instantly regretted it. How could I wish for anyone to die but me? It was horrible, I-I don’t even know.”

“This sucks,” Maggie said after a few moments of silence. She couldn’t really say anymore, so much just happened in one day and it physically took the breath out of her.

“I know,” Glenn said back, “This universe just likes to fuck everything up, I guess,” Glenn let out a laugh without humor, “But to answer your question, yes. I do have regrets, but even though I do wish I did things differently, it doesn’t mean I blame myself. Things happen, sometimes, that we just can’t control, no matter how badly we want to. Right?”

Maggie lightly nodded and sadly smiled up at Glenn. Glenn pulled her closer to him and Maggie rested her head on Glenn’s shoulder. Glenn now knew that they would be okay, it would be tough, obviously, but they would make it through this. They were strong together, and although things seemed hopeless for them right now, they would prevail. 

After a few moments of quiet, Maggie whispered quietly, “Glenn?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think you would, um, want to try again? You know, try to have another baby? Not now obviously, but eventually?”

“Well, what do you want?” Glenn asked, even though he was sure he already knew the answer.

“Yeah, yeah I do. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted a kid until we were having one, you know?”

Glenn smiled, he was right, “Yeah that’s how I felt too, I never thought I’d be a dad but then this happened and...yeah,” Glenn immediately looked at Maggie’s stomach, it was a habit. Once he did, though, he was instantly filled with heartache, and he quickly directed his gaze towards the floor. It had been a long day, and Glenn just let it all out. He started to cry and Maggie quickly wiped his tears.

“Glenn, it’s okay, don’t cry! You’ll be a dad one day and I’ll be a mom and we’ll be the best parents that we can be in this screwed up world, I know it. Everything will work out.”

Glenn sniffled and grabbed Maggie’s hand, “Shouldn’t I be telling you this?” Glenn laughed sadly.

Maggie laughed quietly with him, “You don’t have to be the shoulder for me to cry on all the time, Glenn. You need to let out your emotions, too. You can’t be optimistic and happy all the time, it’s too much work, especially now.”

Glenn smiled and pulled Maggie closer to him, “I love you.”

Maggie leaned into Glenn to rest her head on his shoulder, “I love you, too.”

Glenn placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, “We’ll work this out. It’ll be hard, but we’ll pull through. We’ve pushed through everything else, right?”

Maggie slightly nodded and smiled up at Glenn, “Right.”

After a few moments, Glenn spoke up again, “We should probably go to the Hilltop, to see Harlan, just to make sure everything is okay.”

Maggie sighed, “Yeah, probably.”

“I’ll talk to Rick about it in the morning.”

Maggie nodded and began to yawn, “Today’s been long,” Maggie exhaled in a humorless laugh.

Glenn slightly smiled, “Yeah, let’s get some sleep.”

Maggie nodded dejectedly and got ready for bed with Glenn. Once they were settled in bed, Maggie instantly clung onto her husband. Glenn traced his fingers up and down Maggie’s arm to gently help her into sleep. He wanted to make sure that she knew he was here, and that he was never leaving again. Once Maggie was asleep, Glenn slowly and quietly got up from their bed, trying not to wake Maggie up. After he was out of bed, he looked back to make sure his wife was still sleeping. She was, and she actually looked peaceful, nothing on her mind at all.

'This won’t last forever,' Glenn thought, 'She’s going to wake up and remember all the shit that happened today, I just wish I could make the pain go away for her, why did this have to happen?'

Glenn started to tear up again before he took a deep breath and controlled himself. He needed to be alone for awhile, away from Maggie, at least while she was asleep. The talk Maggie and him just had physically wore him out, and he just needed time to think by himself. Glenn stepped into their bathroom and turned on the sink and washed his face, trying to rid himself of tears. 

Before Glenn could dry his face, he noticed something. On the mirror was their baby’s sonogram picture, one they received not too long ago. Maggie wanted to put it on the mirror because she wanted it to be in a place they saw everyday, to remind them of the happy journey they were about to take. Now, it will only remind them of what they lost and the hopelessness they now felt. Glenn quietly sniffled and took the picture down gently and held onto it as tightly as he could without folding it or messing it up. Glenn silently cried as he looked at the picture, forever wishing that this wasn’t the only picture of his first child.

“Wherever you are right now,” Glenn quietly spoke to the picture, “I hope you’re with your grandpa and your aunt, they’ll take good care of you, I know it. And, I really wish that we could meet you, but we’ll be together eventually, I promise. I just want you to know that Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we’re sorry that this had to happen, we will never ever forget about you” Glenn gently kissed the picture, careful not to get any tears on it. Glenn then slowly stood up and wiped his tears before putting the picture into his bathroom drawer. Maggie would want it someday, but not now. Glenn quietly closed the drawer without looking back at the picture and got back into bed with Maggie without waking her up.

As Glenn layed there with his wife, he thought about their future. Glenn wasn’t lying to Maggie earlier, he knew they would be okay and they would fight to overcome this, but it would be hard. They would both stumble along the way, but they were strong together. Glenn gave Maggie one last kiss on the forehead before falling asleep to the sound of Maggie’s even breaths.  
As Glenn slept, he dreamed of his child’s life, or what could have been. Maybe their child was needed somewhere else, somewhere away from this screwed up world. But, Maggie and Glenn would never quite understand why he or she was taken so soon. Right now, it looked like they didn’t have any hope left, that everything was ruined and nothing would ever be the same. But Glenn refused to let their hope fade, and Maggie did too. They would fight to make their future better and happier even now after this horrible tragedy. And together, as a team, they would be unstoppable.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Wow, again I'm so sorry. I never want to see Maggie or Glenn in pain, but I just had to write this. As always, thank you so much for reading! Be sure to check this story out on fanfiction.net and Tumblr as well!
> 
> Tumblr: glaggieaf
> 
> Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11874456/1/Try-Again


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